This article details research on a stratification system for breast cancer, specifically focusing on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The study, led by Meyer et al., utilized imaging mass cytometry (IMC) to characterize tumor cell phenotypes and the spatial architecture of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in a large cohort of patients. Key findings include the identification of a poor-prognosis basoluminal tumor cell phenotype linked to rapid disease recurrence and the importance of tumor-CD8+ T cell interaction patterns for predicting good outcomes and immunotherapy response. The authors ultimately propose a five-subtype stratification system for breast cancer, integrating tumor cell cytokeratin expression and immune cell spatial dynamics, which they validate across multiple independent cohorts.

References:

• Meyer L, Jackson H W, Eling N, et al. A stratification system for breast cancer based on basoluminal tumor cells and spatial tumor architecture[J]. Cancer Cell, 2025, 43(9): 1637-1655. e9.